[ five ]

Two long weeks passed before April recieved a response from Nev. By that time, she had long since forgotten why she was even worried about Lucas. The video he sent her had been enough to calm her fears, though she still found it odd that he never had time to video chat when she asked him to.

As the days turned to weeks, the World Cup was upon them and in the first week of May, all members of the Brazilian national team were summoned to Sao Paulo for group training. 

Though Neymar was going to be in Brazil, representing the colors of his country on the most important stage in the football world, he told his girlfriend April that he would be there visiting family. Pretending to be a small time footballer in a second division team, he couldn't let her know he was on the national team because he knew she would suspect him. 

When he found out Jonathan's older brother Giovani would be representing Mexico in the cup, he knew he would have to tell April about his true identity soon. In a matter of weeks, Brazil would be appearing on the pitch against Mexico and if she was watching, which he knew she would, she would then realize Lucas dos Santos didn't really exist.

Snapping a picture of the clouds from his window seat on the airplane, he watched the view with a smile.

After so long in Spain, he was finally home.

lucas_2_santos: i missed brasil. #homesweethome

aprilestiano: @lucas_2_santos how lovely ^.^ i hope you have fun, bby.

.

.

.

.

Because the players were encouraged to keep absolute concentration during the cup, they were designated luxurious suites in one of the best hotels in the city. Neymar got out of the taxi after paying the driver and pulled his luggage out with him.

He walked into the lobby to find a lot of his team mates were gathered there, greeting each other. When Neymar spotted Oscar Emboaba, one of his closest friends on the team, a smile formed on his lips. "Neymar!" The ivory skinned young man called out, making all the other players turn in the direction of the entrance.

Cutting the distance between them, the Barcelona player bumped fists with his current team mate for the next month and a half to greet him. "Oscar," Neymar smiled. "How's everything in Chelsea?"

"Cold." Oscar replied immediately, crinkling up his nose. "I missed the beautiful weather of Brasil."

Hulk was the footballer who approached them next. "More like the beautiful women." He said jokingly after having heard their conversation. He then nudged Neymar and the three laughed together, Oscar high fiving his team mate.

"No women for me." Neymar shook his head with a grin. "My girlfriend would kill me."

"Whipped." Oscar coughed fakely.

"He's taken lessons from Ricardo." Hulk muttered to Oscar, the two bursting into laughter once again. Ricardo was another one of their team mates who didn't drink, didn't smoke, who's favorite book was the bible, favorite drink was water, and his favorite music was Gospel. And though he had the most boring tastes ever, he was also one of the friendliest guys both on the field and off. He had never engaged in fights on the pitch and only stood in the sidelines if members of his team started to fight the opposite team. There was just no way of hating him.

"Well if loving my girlfriend is funny..." He trailed off, a slight hint of annoyance at them showing. He liked the idea of a good laugh, but not when it was at his expense.

Oscar's smile dropped in the slightest. "Not when you word it like that."

"Come on, Ney." Hulk patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. "We were joking. Now go get settled in your room and meet us at the bar in a half hour. The boys and I are celebrating."

"Celebrating?" Neymar asked, cocking an eyebrow at them. "What are we celebrating? We haven't achieved anything yet."

With a roll of his eyes, Oscar explained to him. "The cup is being played in our country, man. There is no way we can lose. That trophy is practically in our hands."

"You don't know that." The young Brazilian countered.

Hulk groaned. "So pessimistic. You need to liven yourself up with a few drinks." Shoving the handle of his luggage into the young man's hand, he told him, "Go put your stuff away and come back down here. It seems like all that time in Spain made you forget how we Brazilians do things."

.

.

.

.

The moment she saw the response from Nev in her inbox, she wondered if she should open it. She thought her suspicions about Lucas had been wrong and didn't want to tell him she wouldn't be needing his help anymore.

Finally, she decided it was best to just open up the message.

Hey April,

Its very unfortunate when people go online and pretend to be someone they're not because they end up hurting people. And based on what you sent me a couple of weeks back (I get a lot of messages, so I couldn't reply sooner), it seems like this person 'Lucas' might be hiding something.

I would really like to help you, so I'll give you our skype below and we can talk face to face.

Contact me whenever you have time.

Our skype: catfishtv

See you soon.

-Nev & Max

Taking a deep breath, April shut her laptop and put it on the couch next to her. Would she be ready to know the truth about her boyfriend if he was actually hiding something from her?

As she considered her options, her older sister June strolled into the livingroom, a granola bar in hand. The two sisters had moved out of their parents house to their own apartment two blocks from the university they attended. And with summer and the world cup coming up, they had been saving money to travel to Brazil. Their only problem was that with a couple of weeks to go, they had only rounded up about seventy five percent of what they needed.

Biting into her granola bar, June muttered with her mouth full. "Mom and dad sent us a letter." She informed her sister who was two years younger than her.

Though it was more logical for the older sister to care for the younger one, when it came to April and June, it was always the other way around. April was the one who called the shots around the house and she was the one who took care of her sister.

April eyed the small stack of letters on the coffee table and grabbed the one on top, the one that came from their parents who lived only thirty minutes away from them, forty-five if there was heavy traffic.

Opening it, she saw it was a letter written by her mom and out of the envelope fell three airplane tickets and passes to the world cup games that Brazil would play.

Gasping, she read the letter. 

"Dear April and June," She read aloud. "You two have been very responsible this school year and we know how much you like football. So we got you plane tickets to Brazil, along with tickets to the stadiums and hotel reservations. Have fun, girls!"

June squealed in delight. "No way! We're going to the fucking world cup."

"And maybe I'll get to meet Lucas." April added with a grin, her eyes full of hope.

"And maybe he can introduce me to some of his football playing friends." June wiggled her eyebrows at her sister.

April scoffed. "No. I don't want you bothering Lucas, June."

Her sister's smile dropped into a pout and she crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance. "Fine."

Realizing there was still one last part to the note, she continued reading it out loud. "P.S. We want you to take your sister May along. You both know she has just finished high school and we think a vacation will do her well before she starts college."

May was the youngest of the sisters who was still living with their parents. She had recently turned eighteen in the month she was named after and was the baby of the family.

June let out a frustrated groan. "I knew it was too good to be true! They're doing this because they want to get rid of May so they're pushing her to us."

"Hey," April shrugged her shoulders. "Its a trip to Brazil. We should take it."

"But then we won't be able to get into clubs and meet cute boys." Her older sister continued with her stream of complaints.

"The drinking age is eighteen in Brazil." April reminded her. "So she will be allowed in a club or a bar."

Perking up at my words, she grinned. "Perfect. Then I don't mind if May comes with us."

June quickly left the room to get started on her packing. April shot a glance at her laptop that was set on the couch. She thought about it for several minutes and finally decided she would accept the help of Nev and Max. 

If she was going to travel to Brazil and there was a possibility she could meet Lucas, she wanted to know what he was hiding first.

She only hoped he was the person he claimed to be.

-

yay.

i am on an updating spreee!

anyway, thank you for reading and supporting.

in the next few chapters, ney might finally agree to meet april. but there might still be some more drama to unfold before them.

thank you for all the support.

i love you loads.

-clary xx